Strong condemnation of the human rights violations against children and young people observed in recent weeks in Chile
El CLACSO Working Group on Childhood and Youth wishes to express its deep concern and strong condemnation of the human rights violations against children and young people observed in recent weeks in Chile.
We demand that President Sebastián Piñera fully uphold the rule of law in the country and we demand compliance with the mandates that emerge from the Convention on the Rights of the Child - on the eve of the 30th Anniversary of its adoption by the UN General Assembly - which Chile has signed.
In a democracy, repressive incursions by security forces into educational establishments attended by minors are unacceptable, a practice that has been denounced for decades, especially in Mapuche territories. So too are violent repressive actions against student street demonstrations resulting in serious injuries and mutilations, as well as arbitrary arrests and transfers of children and adolescents in security force vehicles, sexual abuse, homophobic violence, and the criminalization of expressions of youth discontent. All these actions are contrary to the criteria stipulated in the Convention and also to those derived from the General Comments issued by the International Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, in particular:
• GENERAL OBSERVATION No. 8 (2006) The child's right to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment
• GENERAL OBSERVATION No. 10 (2007) Children's rights in juvenile justice
• GENERAL OBSERVATION No. 12 (2009) The child's right to be heard
• GENERAL OBSERVATION No. 13 (2011) The child's right not to be subjected to any form of violence
• GENERAL OBSERVATION No. 20 (2016) The effectiveness of children's rights during adolescence
• GENERAL OBSERVATION No. 24 (2019) Regarding the rights of the child in the juvenile justice system.
We urge the Political, Judicial and Security Force Authorities of Chile to strictly adhere to the norms of respect and guarantee of the rights of Chilean children and youth, in accordance with the international standards to which the Chilean State has committed itself as a signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989, as well as the pacts ratified by the Chilean State such as the American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José de Costa Rica) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
November 2019
CLACSO Working Group
Childhoods and youth
(The CLACSO Centers of Chile adhere to this)
